The Stage

Children’s TV lobby is stuck in ‘bygone age’, says Davies

Published Wednesday 12 December 2007 at 11:05 by Matthew Hemley

Exclusive: Doctor Who lead writer Russell T Davies has waded into the debate about the decline of children’s TV, claiming campaigners trying to protect the genre should stop looking to a “bygone age”.

Davies, who also created spin-off show The Sarah Jane Adventures for CBBC, said the sector should continue to be funded, but also said it should be recognised that young people’s viewing patterns are changing.

His comments were made just weeks after media regulator Ofcom announced the findings of a report into children’s television, which revealed that investment in first-run original programming by the commercial public service broadcasters, including ITV, Channel 4 and Five, has halved in real terms since 1998.

Speaking to The Stage, Davies said: “The truth is, the most watched programmes by children aren’t children’s programmes and no one has ever quite come to terms with that. Millions more watch Coronation Street and EastEnders and millions more watch Doctor Who than they do the children’s programmes.

“Obviously children’s programming should exist and it should be funded, but sometimes you have to question its absolute right.”

He said too many people referred to the BBC as the “last bastion of children’s drama” and forget cinemas offer children the most “magnificent pieces of entertainment you could ever imagine”.

“If you say that to TV practitioners, they say that does not count, but actually it does count because children get them on DVD and they watch them 27 million times, and so different viewing patterns are happening. Children’s programming must be protected but I think the right way to protect it is not to look to a bygone age,” he said.

Last week, MPs discussed the crisis in children’s television in Parliament. The debate was organised by the Performers’ Alliance Parliamentary Group, made up of a cross-party group of MPs that represents the interests of Equity, the Musicians’ Union and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain.

Speaking at the meeting, the group’s secretary Neil Gerrard recommended introducing a tax credit system similar to the one enjoyed by the UK film industry, to aid the makers of children’s TV programmes.

He said: “We are at such a crisis point that the issue is finding something that stimulates a bit more creative programming in the interim, pending the long-term review.”